Glossary: R

The direction of an individual to the appropriate facility or specialist in a health system or network of service providers to address the relevant health needs. Counter-referral may occur when an individual is referred back to primary care for follow up care following a procedure in secondary or tertiary care.

A standardized form throughout the network of service providers that ensures that the same essential information is provided whenever a referral is initiated. It is designed to facilitate communication in both directions – the initiating facility completes the outward referral, referral letter, and at the end of care, the receiving facility completes the counter-referral to the original facility, reply letter.

A mapping of the linkages across the different platforms of the health system to ensure that health needs are addressed irrespective of the platform at which care was first sought. It facilitates management of cases across different delivery platforms.

The imposition of constraints upon the behaviour of an individual or an organization to force a change from preferred or spontaneous behaviour.

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.